‘I am already free. And I am loyal to the Empire.’

‘You may be loyal, but are you really free?’ Lilla asked. ‘Your mother may never have worn the slave brand, but it sounds like she sold herself to your father nonetheless. How much did she get to choose what happened to her after that – and how much do you?’

The medicine had dried his mouth and added an almost manic edge to his thoughts. He had no idea whether his words were making sense, or what Dakto’s reaction to them might be. He did his best to brace himself for another punch.

The Whisper was silent for twenty steps. ‘Fuck you, Toko,’ he snarled eventually, and stamped off towards the head of the column.

‘Nicely done,’ the woman behind him said. ‘That piece of shit.’

There were still many things Lilla couldn’t remember, but the pain and rage he felt confirmed one definite truth: Dakto had been a friend, part of Lilla’s Paw, and a trusted warrior. And it had all been a lie.

In return for his betrayal, Lilla would find his weakness and he’d slip a chisel into that crack and split him open for the vultures to feed upon. He clung to the notion, gripping it tight so that he didn’t have to acknowledge the agony in his head or the persistent scream in his ears. Or Tayan being dead.

They walked for a few more hours and then the song was there, without warning, impossible and overwhelming and there, outside him and inside and everywhere in between. Music in his blood and muscles, in his bones and organs, heart and balls. Entrancing, beautiful, possessing. As if he belonged to it. The string of captives came to a ragged halt, those on the other side of the invisible line of magic asking what was wrong, those within the song stumbling, shaking their heads like dogs dislodging flies.

The dog warriors were laughing, though surely it had been the same when they were first captured.

‘Here.’ Dakto had appeared by his side again, a lightness in his step and smile. He reached out and put both his hands over Lilla’s ears; the song continued unabated and unmuffled. He wasn’t hearing it normally, the way he heard everything else. It was inside him. Lilla’s mouth dropped open.

Dakto was watching him intently, that lopsided smile still there. He removed his hands and took a deep, satisfied breath. ‘Now do you see who we are, the blessing and power of our magic? Now you know the merest sliver of our glory.’

‘Glory?’ Lilla asked, raising his voice over the song and provoking another burst of laughter from the warriors guarding them. ‘How is being forced to listen to something glory? It’s just another form of slavery – we have no choice but to listen, as your slaves have no choice but to obey.’